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CFDBNYC is a blog/radio show/podcast that focuses on NYC Culture, Film, Music and great craft beer. Follow us as we highlight what’s new and unheard of in the five boroughs.

  • Slanted….

    The 48th Asian American International Film Festival kicked off with a unique body horror film titled Slanted. The film follows Joan Haung, a Chinese American teen who from the time she moved to America she was bullied for her cultural differences. As she is about to graduate she wants to become prom queen and will go to extreme measures to get the crown. Her quest though comes with a price and her preparation for it may not be worth the crown. Starring Shirley Chen and Fang Du as daughter and father the film discusses acceptance, cultural indifference, racism and social media. By covering today’s social issues director Amy Wang made sure that the audience gets small servings of what it like to be for immigrants to live in America especially teenagers. From there the film did a great job on focusing on how teenagers interact today with each other with some cliche moments from past teen angst movies.

    Shirley Chen as Joan Huang is great and you can see her emotions on her sleeve as she pleads with her parents before the surgery and after wards feeling sorry for what she done. Fang Du as the father is great as well. The script dives into Asian American culture and the preservation of such cultural activities because it keeps them closer to home. Also the concept of changing bodies to be acceptable is a great twist to the genre because it taps into how immigrants will go to lengths to be acceptable to American society even at the cost of wiping out their own culture. Seeing Joan Haung becoming Jo Hunt is frightening towards the end because you see the attitude and demeanor changes to appeases others and not her own.

    What makes Slanted a great opening night film because the focus on how relatable Asian Americans are to other culture migrating to this country because all of them or most wants to be accepting and criticized by others for their language barrier and looks. The Q&A afterwards was great and informative. Hopefully Slanted gets more recognition for thinking outside the box and bringing a diverse approach to the horror genre. Well done.

  • Hello World!

    We got to check out 40 Acres, the post apocalyptic thriller directed by R.T Thorne and written by Thorne and Lora Campbell. The film stars Danielle Deadwylder in the lead, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O’Connor as a family who are descendants of African American farmers who settled in Canada after the first Civil War and now face a army of flesh eating people intent on stealing their home. From that tagline alone we got excited about the film and realized we in for something different.

    The opening of the film starts the family fighting off a military group who wants their food ration. From there you knew this film was going to be action until the end and it delivered with some drama in between. The narrative of the film is more about survival, it’s about trust and family. You can tell the screenwriting was very detailed in American history and it’s relationship with Canada(not the present day) The dialogue between Hailey (Deadwylder) and Galen(Greyeyes) after the opening standoff is great and Kataem O’Connor as Emanuel aka Manny is the focal point for most of the themes in the film. His mannerisms throughout the film is spectacular because you can see he’s still learning about himself while fighting off cannibals. As the film progress Manny gets enamored with a girl at the lake who towards the middle of the film becomes the reason of trouble laying ahead for Manny’s family. There were great acting along with the brilliant action sequences. For example Raine played by Leenah Robinson have some of the best lines in the film and becomes a funny character in certain spots of the film. The use of the farmland and wooden hills of Ontario is great for this film. The similarities between this film and the other flesh eating films is minimal but needed and the discrepancy is minimal. The fact this film lead is a black woman is a big step where people can see themselves fighting off cannibals is a different emotion because of the lack of leads in horror films is great.

    Overall 40 Acres is a great film to see for the adults and for those drive in dates especially in the middle of July. Highly recommended by the staff here. Enjoy the film on VOD or in a limited theatre run.